An Xian, China (AP) The death toll in china's powerful earthquake has pushed to almost 20,000.

The toll is rising as rescue workers climb their way over landslide-blocked roads to reach mountain villages that were cut off.

They're finding towns where 80 percent of the people have been wiped out.

Helicopters today, helped by a break in the weather, are airlifting food, water and medicine to survivors.

China's official Xinhua News agency says rescuers who hiked into one town today found the devastation “much worse than expected.”

One farmer says he's hungry, but “happy to be alive.”

China's prime minister today visited a city where thousands died. State television shows him visiting survivors in tents and telling them, “your pain is our pain.”